


sometimes you just gotta say it

by ghostinthebook



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bisexual Clary Fray, Bisexual Isabelle Lightwood, F/M, Isabelle wants Simon to meet her family, M/M, Pansexual Simon Lewis, you can infer that Simon has anxiety but it's not about that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-17 12:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17560466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostinthebook/pseuds/ghostinthebook
Summary: Simon's been dating Isabelle for a few months. He's really close to saying "I love you". Then Izzy invites him to meet her family. Simon gets really nervous, cause he wants to make a good impression to the family of the girl he lo- likes a lot, okay?





	1. the text of doom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going off of a mix of show canon and book canon, so there's that. If a sentence has asterisks around it, *like this*, that means it's a text. Also, this is my first fanfic so I don't really know how this works, so yeah if I make a ton of mistakes that's why. Anyway, enjoy!

*Hey Simon, I think you should meet my family*

Isabelle’s text caught Simon off guard in more ways than one. Firstly, he was in the middle of ranting to Maia about the newest Star Wars movie, and his phone going off startled him. Secondly, the content of the message. Meet her family? They’d only been dating for a few months, and yeah he was getting pretty close to saying I love you, but that didn’t mean she felt the same way.

Although, wow, Simon wished she felt the same way. She was strong, she was gorgeous, she was nice, she was loyal, she-

“Simon, you good?” Maia said, interrupting his Isabelle-thoughts. She looked at him slightly concerned. Made sense, Simon thought, cause a little bit ago he just suddenly stopped talking, looked at his phone, and proceeded to stare at it for a full minute with wide eyes. That would definitely cause concern.

“Yeah, I just… Izzy wants me to meet her family,” Simon said. He knew she had two brothers, one of them being adopted, and that the third brother died in a car accident years ago. Would he be meeting the two brothers? Would those brothers be bringing their significant others too? Would her parents be there? Would-

“Simon, you’re freaking out,” Maia pointed out. “Stop stressing about it, agree to meet them, and text her back already.”

“Isn’t it too soon? I know she loves her family a lot, so what if I mess it up and she doesn’t want to talk to me again? What if I somehow offend them? What if-”

“Simon, seriously, shut up. It’ll be fine. You just said she loves her family a lot, so if she wants you to meet them, then you should. You won’t mess it up, just don’t be an idiot. Like you’re being right now because she texted you to meet her family almost five minutes ago and you still haven’t responded.”

Simon cussed as he dived towards his phone. *Sounds like a great idea, when and where and who’s gonna be there?* Simon texted back.

The response was almost immediate. *How about tomorrow at 7 at Taki’s? It’ll be my brothers, their partners, and my baby nephew. Good?*

*Yeah that sounds great, see you then!* Simon replied. Then he tossed his phone next to him and slouched on the couch.

“Stop that, I’m getting back pain just looking at you,” Maia said. Simon straightened up, then looked stressed. Very stressed.

“Maia, it’s her brothers, their partners, and her nephew. That’s five people! She wants me to meet five people! What if the baby doesn’t like me, you have to trust babies, oh crap her baby nephew’s gonna hate me, oh-”

“Dude, I already told you, it’s gonna be fine,” she said, and then her phone went off. She looked at it for a few seconds, then got up and put her phone in her pocket.

“Bat’s here to give me a ride to work. You gonna be okay?” Maia worked as a bartender at the Hunter’s Moon, which is where she met Simon. They dated for a bit, and when they broke up they stayed friends. She knows how much he freaks out over things, so if he absolutely needed her, she’d get someone to cover her shift. It’s happened before. 

“Yeah, I just need a second to process. I’ll play some video games or something to distract myself from freaking out. You can go.”

“Okay, see you later,” Maia said while leaving Simon’s apartment. Simon used to share that apartment with her ex, Jordan, but Jordan moved out a while back. So now Simon was alone in the apartment, his anxiety-thoughts mixing with his Isabelle-thoughts mixing with pretty much any other thought he has had in his life.

Too many thoughts. He needed to calm down.

He played video games until he was too tired to keep his eyes open. He fell asleep, still thinking of Isabelle.


	2. this pansexual is nervous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I just make chapter 2 more than 3 times as long as chapter 1? yeah. i'm a mess but there wasn't any good chapter breaks so here's a mess of a chapter, enjoy

While Simon was choosing his outfit, for some reason he thought of Clary.

Clary was his best friend from elementary school, and they were still close now. They texted often, but he hadn’t seen her in person for months, cause their schedules never seemed to align. Between being an accountant and the bassist for Rock Solid Panda, and Clary still at the Brooklyn Academy of Art, neither had much time for in-person hangouts. Apparently she had a boyfriend now, but he didn’t even know the guy’s name. He thinks it was Chase, or Jason, something like that.

Oh. That’s why he was thinking of Clary. She didn’t know about Isabelle yet. Well, she knew he had a girlfriend, but they hadn’t been able to talk about it much lately. Huh. He’ll make sure to set something up next week so they can finally rant about their respective love lives to each other. 

His Clary-thoughts were interrupted by his phone going off.

*Hey Simon, you should know something* Isabelle had texted.

Well, that was ominous. Yikes.

*What is it?* Simon texted back, only slightly freaking out, no that was a lie he’s really freaking out, oh no, what is it, oh- 

*My brother is gay, so he’ll be at dinner with his boyfriend and their adopted son. I didn’t want to catch you off guard, and by the way if you have a problem with my brother being gay, then consider this a breakup*

Oh. That’s not nearly as bad as Simon thought it would be. Also, why would Simon have a problem with her brother being gay, doesn’t she know he himself is pansexual?

Wait, he hadn’t told her that yet. Simon cussed silently. It wasn’t like he was hiding it, he was out and proud, it just hadn’t come up yet. And now didn’t seem like the best time to say it so he just quickly texted back that no, he wasn’t a bigot, there’s no problem there, thank you very much.

Then he went back to choosing his outfit. He settled on just a casual Vans-jeans-graphic tee look, and if he happened to wear his t-shirt that had a tiny heart with the pan flag on it, then that’s just a coincidence. 

An hour later he was outside of Taki’s, waiting for Isabelle. 

“Simon! There you are,” Isabelle said, quickly walking towards him for a hug and a kiss. 

“Hi Izzy, where’s your family?” Simon asked while he looked around.

“Oh, we’re the first ones here, we gotta get the table. Then my brother will show up with his boyfriend and son, and then my other brother with his girlfriend.”

“Okay, cool.” By that time they were at the front of Taki’s. “Table for seven, one being a high chair for a baby?” Isabelle said to the waiter. They followed him to a table, then one of them (it was either Isabelle or the waiter, Simon was silently freaking out so he wasn’t paying much attention right then) got the high chair. 

They waited for about five minutes, just talking to each other about their day, their jobs, anything. Simon calmed down as they talked, because somehow talking to her made him feel better. He didn’t know exactly what it was, he was just calmer when she was around.

“Hey Izzy!” Simon heard someone say. They looked over at who it was. 

Huh, this must be the biological brother, Simon thought. Both Izzy and this guy had dark hair, and while her eyes were more brown, his were more hazel. He was also really tall. Like wow, he’s so tall. 

He was there with his boyfriend (so he must be the gay brother too, Simon thought). The boyfriend was Asian, and was wearing makeup. He was shorter than Izzy’s brother, and his brown eyes honestly looked kinda gold when the light hit it a certain way. He was also holding a baby. 

The baby had dark hair, blue eyes, and looked to be less than a year old. He was wearing an adorable navy onesie, and was one of the cutest babies Simon had ever seen.

Man, what a good-looking family, Simon thought. 

“Alec, Magnus, this is my boyfriend Simon. Be nice,” Isabelle said.

“Magnus Bane, my boyfriend Alec Lightwood, and our son Max Lightwood-Bane,” the Asian man (Magnus) said.

“Simon Lewis, nice to meet you. Your son is adorable,” Simon said. He figured he could probably get on their good side by complimenting their kid. That tactic seemed to work, as both Magnus and Isabelle’s brother (Alec) brightened up a little bit when he said that.

“Yeah, he’s the best,” Alec said. “Also, by the way, if you hurt Isabelle, then I think you should know that she’s not the only one that knows hand-to-hand combat. So I’ll be coming for you after she’s done with you.”

Simon’s eyes widened, but Isabelle just rolled her eyes instead. “Alec, please stop threatening my boyfriends. You know I would have told you if he needed a good threat. This one’s harmless, one of the first things he said to me was ‘I was born afraid’. He’s good.”

Simon processed this for a second. Alec was protective of his sister, a good thing to be, even if it isn’t exactly working in his best interest. And what Isabelle said wasn’t an insult. He had, indeed, said “I was born afraid” soon after meeting her. She wasn’t saying he was weak, she was saying he wasn’t an aggressive jerk that would assault people. So that was actually a compliment, even if it didn’t sound like one at first- 

“Simon, you good?” Isabelle looked slightly worried as she asked. Cause yeah, he had did that thing again where he doesn’t talk for a bit while having a scared look on his face. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Your brother is cool, it’s good that he’s so protective,” Simon said. Isabelle smiled as he said that. 

“Isabelle’s protective too, you should hear what she said to me the week after I started dating Alec,” Magnus said, amused. “She told me she knows how to use a whip, and I quote, ‘not in a fun way’. Honestly, we’re all lucky Alec is the love of my life.”

“Aw, babe. Thanks,” Alec said while leaning over to give Magnus a kiss. Wow, they’re good together, Simon thought. Their baby (Max) was in the high chair, and starting to babble about, well, whatever babies talk about. 

Wait. 

“Isabelle, you know how to use a whip? Like Indiana Jones?” Simon asked. That earned another eye roll from her. “Yes, I do. And who’s Indiana Jones?”

“You don’t know who Indiana Jones is??? We’re having a movie night next week.”

“Okay,” Izzy said, laughing a little bit. That’s one thing Simon lov- liked a lot about her. She may be pretty clueless about so many nerd things, but she’s willing to learn, as long as Simon is the one teaching. She was slowly becoming more and more nerdy, even though it was more like she happened to know who Biggs Darklighter was, instead of wearing a Star Wars t-shirt and going to conventions. He was fine with it, his girlfriend was a secret nerd. 

“You remind me of Raphael. He didn’t know any nerd stuff either, although he was considerably more grumpy,” Simon said. Magnus looked up quickly when Simon said the name.

“Wait. Raphael Santiago? Latino, Catholic, aromantic asexual?” Magnus said.

“Yeah, him. Funny story, before I knew he was aro/ace, I actually tried to ask him out. It was so awkward, but we’re still friends.” Simon was kinda shocked that this obviously outgoing guy seemed to know Raphael, grump extraordinaire, but he’s seen weirder. Also, it seemed like a good place to mention that he likes guys too. 

“Oh my gosh, he’s one of my best friends. Also, you’re bi too? That’s cool.” Magnus held out his hand for a high five.

“Pan actually, but close enough. Sorry Isabelle, should have told you sooner, it just hadn’t come up. I wasn’t hiding it,” Simon gave Magnus the high five while quickly saying this to Izzy. 

Izzy looked shocked for a second, then started laughing. She said something, but was laughing too much for Simon to hear. “What?” Simon said.

“I said, Jace will be the only straight person at the table. Both me and Jace’s girlfriend are bi. I probably should have told you that too, but as you said, it never came up.” Isabelle continued to laugh, but by now it was just giggling.

After she said that, everyone at the table started laughing. Max was laughing too, but given that he was less than a year old, it was probably because of the happy atmosphere and not because of the lack of straight people.

“Aww, Max, you’re so cute,” Simon cooed at the baby. “Where’d you get his name from?”

At that, everyone stopped laughing, and the vibe of the place got more serious. 

“Y’know how I said we had a little brother that died a few years ago? His name was Max. So when Magnus and Alec adopted their son, they named him Max in honor of our brother,” Izzy said, significantly less lively than when she was talking a minute ago.

“Oh wow, I’m so sorry, oh wow,” Simon said. He then gave Izzy a hug and a kiss on the cheek, to hopefully help her feel better.

“It’s fine, it was years ago,” she said, obviously not fine, but Simon decided to let it slide this time. They’ll talk about it some other time. 

After they had to send the waiter away for the third time, because the full party wasn’t there, Simon asked where the other brother was. 

“Oh, him and his girlfriend are almost here. They left later than usual, and there’s a lot of traffic, blah blah blah. They’ll be here in a few minutes,” Isabelle said. 

And, like she said, a few minutes later, a blond man with one blue eye, one brown came in. 

“Hey Jace, there you are! Where’s your girl?” Alec said.

Huh, that sounds a lot like Clary’s boyfriend’s name. What a coincidence. 

“Oh, she’s parking the car. I don’t know why she insisted on driving, I drive fine.”

“Jace, you don’t. Every time she gets in your car, she puts on her seatbelt so quickly that you’d think that there was a maniac at the wheel. Which in her case, there is,” Alec said, but not unkindly.

“Haha, very funny. Hey little Max!” Jace said, suddenly picking up Max.

“Uncle Jace!” Max said, or at least an approximation of “uncle Jace”

Jace smiled, and kept on holding Max when he sat down.

“This Izzy’s boyfriend?” He said, pointing at Simon. They all nodded.

“I think Alec probably already threatened you, so just take his threats and multiply. Also, my name’s Jace Herondale, and you are?”

“Simon Lewis, pleased to meet you. And please don’t kill me.”

“Don’t worry, I have a baby on my lap. I can’t kill you yet.” 

Simon silently thanked all babies for existing. But, of course, right then, Max said “Papa?” and held out his hands to Magnus, who then put the baby on his lap. 

Well, isn’t that just Simon’s luck.

“Hey guys!” Simon heard a very familiar voice say. He turned his head to see if it was possible, if he was right, if it was-

And he saw someone he hadn’t seen in months, but he would recognize that short redhead anywhere.

“Clary!” He shouted, jumping up and running towards her.

“Oh my gosh, Simon!” She replied, giving him a hug.


	3. the burgers and fries with the guys (and girls)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for book fans reading this, maryse and luke are a thing in the show, so that's why it's mentioned here. also, back to a short chapter, cause idk how to plan stories. this is the last chapter, enjoy and thank you for being here.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Jace asked, looking between Simon and Clary.

“Yeah, he’s been my best friend since basically first grade, and I haven’t seen him in months!” Clary said while smiling wide.

“But didn’t he know you were dating me? Or you know that he’s the one dating my sister?”

Simon replied, “Jace, we hadn’t exactly had time to sit down and talk about our love lives lately. Otherwise I would already know pretty much everything you told Clary. Speaking of which, do you have any blackmail material yet I can use if he breaks up with you, Clary?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. So Jace, here’s your threat if you break up with my best friend. I’ll know what Clary knows soon enough.”

Jace actually looked a bit wide-eyed, which got a laugh from Alec. “That means don’t break up with her, Jace, or you’ll wake up to ducks in your bedroom.”

“Hey!” Jace said, softly punching Alec’s shoulder. They were both laughing, though, so Simon could tell this was just a brotherly interaction and not actual fighting. Also, ducks? I guess he'll know about that soon enough.

Jace, Simon, and Clary sat down and finally, the table could order their food.

They all ate, getting along much better than Simon thought they would. He thought this dinner would be full of interrogating and awkwardness; instead, he joked with Clary, gave Max some of his French fries, and found out that Isabelle’s family wasn’t all that bad. He was even looking forward to eventually meeting her mom, who, as Izzy said, “became a much better person after she had her divorce”. It seems that their dad cheated on their mom, so they had a divorce, and now their mom is dating a guy named Luke, who the kids like much more than they liked their dad.

It wasn’t the happiest conversation, but now Simon knew the deal with the parents. He knew to not bring up Robert, but talking about Maryse and Luke was fine. It was good to know what he could and couldn’t talk about. 

Before he knew it, the dinner was over. Magnus, Alec, and Max left first, since by then Max was really tired. Then Clary and Jace left, with hugs and “I’ll text you later”s. Izzy and Simon walked out by themselves.

“So, tonight went really well,” Izzy said. She had a slight smile on her face.

“Yeah, it did,” Simon said, matching her smile with his own.

“I was really nervous, cause most guys and girls never really got to the meet-the-family level with me, so I wasn’t sure how’d they react, and I just-”

“Iz, it went fine. Don’t freak out, that’s my thing,” Simon joked.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m just really, really happy it went well.”

“Me too,” Simon said. “Isabelle, I…”

He needed to say it. He’s gonna say it.

“I love you, Isabelle Lightwood.”

She smiled, everything about her just showing Simon why he loves her, why he will always love her, why he had to say those words.

“I love you too, Simon Lewis.”

They kissed, and Simon didn’t want to be anywhere in the world but here.


End file.
